By MUTHOKI MUMO

In Summary

The firm grew its net profit by 31.2 per cent, buoyed by strong growth in its customer base and increased revenues services such as SMS, M-Pesa, the innovative money transfer platform and data.

Safaricom has recommended that shareholders earn 47 cents per share, a 51.6 per cent improvement from the pay-out last year.

Safaricom and Airtel had earlier this year expressed interest in jointly acquiring the assets of rival yuMobile as it exits from the market.

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Safaricom earned Sh23 billion in profits in the year ending March 2014, stamping its position as the most profitable company in East Africa.

The firm grew its net profit by 31.2 per cent, buoyed by strong growth in its customer base and increased revenues services such as SMS, M-Pesa, the innovative money transfer platform and data.

Addressing investors Monday, CEO Bob Collymore said the firm’s customers increased by 11.07 per cent to 21.6 million in the same period.

Revenues from these services went up 28 per cent to Sh52.1 billion against an 11.6 per cent growth reported in the voice segment.

Up to Sh101.3 billion per month was transacted through M-Pesa in the year. Revenue made from the platform rose 22 per cent to Sh26.6 billion.

Driven by growth in the number of Internet subscribers in the country, Safaricom’s data revenue grew 41 per cent to Sh9.31 billion while revenue from messaging services grew 34 per cent to Sh13.6 billion.

Safaricom has recommended that shareholders earn 47 cents per share, a 51.6 per cent improvement from the pay-out last year.

The company reiterated a promise made last year to provide free Internet alongside the government’s free laptop programme once it rolls out its planned 4G network.

Even as Safaricom bets on the non-voice segment of its business to sustain profitability, the company will have to contend with a market whose dynamics are shifting fundamentally.

Safaricom and Airtel had earlier this year expressed interest in jointly acquiring the assets of rival yuMobile as it exits from the market.

The industry regulator, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), has however, pegged the proposed deal on a raft of measures that are expected to see Safaricom share its infrastructure and its mobile money agent network with incumbent and new players in the telecommunication market.

Standard Investment Bank in a research note released on Friday said that depending on the implementation of the new measures, the “competitive strength of Safaricom may be loosened.”